Rio 2016: One year out Brazil raises budget
August 22, 2015, 4:31 am

Photo provided by Rio 2016 Organising Committee on Aug. 5, 2015 show the Rio 2016 Olympic torch and the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of the Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Xinhua]

The increase owes to additional costs associated with Olympic venues, which are now estimated at 6.67 billion reais, APO said on Friday in its third so-called matrix of responsibilities report.

APO is a federal government organ charged with coordinating spending for the Rio 2016 Games.

Brazil’s government, as with all Olympic hosts, has guaranteed to finance any cost overruns.

The final budget has yet to be approved due to uncertainty about the number of projects needed.

According to APO president Marcelo Pedroso, the figure has fallen to 46 from 56 when the second matrix was published.

“There hasn’t been a decrease,” Pedroso said. “What has happened is that we have made an improvement. The matrix is a dynamic instrument. It includes a group of projects of the same nature – electric energy – that we decided to join together. We did the same for complimentary facilities.”

Apart from the matrix of responsibilities, an extra 7.4 billion reais have been added to the organizing committee budget and 24.6 billion reais to legacy projects.

Meanwhile, APO claimed 96 per cent of the city’s Olympic projects were either underway or completed.

Of the 46 projects that comprise the matrix of responsibilities, 44 have been put to tender while 11 have been concluded.

“The unfinished projects only require a short implementation period,” the report said.

Construction at Barra Olympic Park, the Games’ largest venue cluster, is 87 per cent complete, APO added.

In Brazil, any hike to the overall cost will be hard to stomach for a country in the midst of an economic slump and a fiscal austerity drive. Public anger over issues including the inflated costs for World Cup stadiums brought more than a million people on to the streets in 2013.

Source: Agencies